Have you thought about how to write a case study that lands new clients?

Case studies are vital for building credibility and showcasing how your product or service provides a solution or fulfils a desire your target has. A great case study can help land new clients and close more sales, so making sure you’ve taken the time to write them well is crucial.

Using a tried and tested template is a great way to keep your case studies looking and sounding consistent. To take out the hard work, we’ve put one together for you and condensed the process into six easy-to-follow steps.

Step-by-step case study template to land new clients

1. Project background and description

The background and description of the study are crucial because it allows the visitor to navigate each case study easily and immediately understand what it’s is about and some of the challenges included.

This section of the case study should consist of the rundown on the context of the project including deadlines, budget, the project brief etc.

For example, you could write something like: The client wanted a new website to improve the user experience (UX) and drive 30% more conversions. We had a budget of £X and a time scale of X weeks to complete the brief.

By including these specifics, the reader can quickly understand what needed to be achieved and what resources were in place to facilitate it.

2. The problem

For the problem stage of the case study, you need to include details of the purpose of the project. For example, was something broke and needed to be fixed, or is something running inefficiently and needs new technology to be installed?

For example: ‘The client had noticed a steady decline in traffic to their website, but had made little change to it in over five years. On closer examination, we identified that the website had a poor UX and customer service technology on the website was nonexistent.’

This works highlight exactly what was wrong. If a visitor to your site has experienced a similar issue, they’ll immediately relate to it and recognise you as someone who is equipped to deal with the problem.

Because of this, it’s a good idea for most businesses to base the majority of their case studies around problems they know are common amongst their target.

Remember that in this stage, you’re showcasing your capability in the kinds of problems you deal with. Therefore it’s also useful to choose studies that are more complex to show you can deal with a multifaceted issue.

3. Project goals and objectives

Every project you work on will have goals and objectives that can be used to measure how successfully you dealt with a problem.

For example, if a client wants more traffic to their website, they will say that they want it improved by X amount. We can then look where they are now compared with where they need to go.

Quantifiable metrics such as these allow you to stay on track and take steps that make a direct difference to the client’s problem.

Avoid using ‘vanity metrics’, which are things you can measure which don’t have value because they’re not aligned to the overall business goals and objectives.

4. The Process and Insight

The process and insight stage of the case study is where you can showcase your brand’s flair. You need to go into more detail concerning the thought behind your design decisions.

For example, you may have identified the fact that lots of customers experiencing the same problem were also using the same solution, which failed to fix the issue fully. Perhaps this led you to want to create something that completely eliminates the problem.

This will demonstrate to your prospect exactly what your process is so that they can decide if you are a good fit for their requirements.

5. The Solution

The solution is the bit that you want your customers to invest in. However, each component of your case study needs to be equally as strong to support the desirability of the solution.

In this section, you need to detail the features of the solution. If the solution is a physical product, be sure to include photos, videos and other forms of content to demonstrate its properties.

This is one of the most important parts of the case study, and prospective clients will be paying particularly close attention to how you can solve their own problem or fulfil their desire for something.

6. The Results

What’s the purpose of investing in a solution that does nothing?

In this section of the case study, you need to prove the worth of your solution. Simply saying it’s worth the investment because it has X, Y and Z won’t do much without the appropriate metrics to back it up.

You need to detail where the customer was before their project, and how their life or business has improved because of it.
For example, something like ‘our product saw the customer’s production line increase by 20%’ is a great way to demonstrate to prospective customers what they can achieve if they choose to invest in your solution.

As well as quantitive results, it also helps to include some qualitative data. This could be a quote from the happy customer about how your solution transformed X within their business or lives.

Remember to avoid vanity metrics. There are a lot of smart customers out there who conduct plenty of research before purchasing. They will generally recognise which metrics are useful or not, so including vanity metrics could even impact on your reputation.

Conclusion

Ultimately, writing effective case studies to demonstrate how your solutions work and who they work for should be a top priority is it’s not already.

Almost 90% of consumers conduct their own research before buying, so prospects are realistically only going to trust you with their project if they can see examples of your past successes with details about how they were done. Building credibility through your case studies is crucial.

If you would like more information on how to write a case study to land new clients or improve your digital marketing, KUB is here to help. Get in touch to see how you could be growing your business by innovating your digital marketing strategy.